


Rites of Passage

by sheaz



Category: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Naruto
Genre: Bad Flirting, Bad Puns, Boruto Era, Canon Compliant, Canon Divergent, Family Bonding, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Humor, LMAO, Obito is Sarada’s Uncle because he’s the Coolest Guy, Obito is a father figure, besides that, for me..., in that obito is alive and pardoned while Orochimaru is dead because I do what I want, sakura and Sasuke’s relationship is painted as negative fyi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-26
Updated: 2019-02-26
Packaged: 2019-11-06 02:34:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17931188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sheaz/pseuds/sheaz
Summary: Sarada and her two very strange Uncles go on a little adventure to teach her Katon.





	Rites of Passage

**Author's Note:**

> Boruto Era fic where everything is the same except Obito is the unpardonable villain who gets pardoned instead of Orochimaru because that’s a way better world let’s be real. So my boy Tenzo guards Obito instead of Orochimaru
> 
> • Since we don’t know what’s going on with the Uchiha compound I made some assumptions— 
> 
> •but besides that it’s canon compliant.
> 
> •Sarada gets a cool terrible uncle and Obito gets a reason to live very conceptual...also it kills me Sarada doesn’t know the truth about the massacre...
> 
>  
> 
> But yeah 3 faves!!! Babey!!!

Sarada did not enjoy going against her mother’s wishes, in fact the studious young girl tried to do it as little as possible. She didn’t purposely like creating stress and strife for her already overworked mother, who had an important position within the village and raised her alone. Sakura was constantly swamped and Sarada hated being the source of her stress. Unlike Boruto. Her friend often seemed bent on causing problems, and creating chaos for his parents. Sarada was never that type of child. However, this was a unique situation, and going against her mother was a necessity.

Sarada had found something of interest in her endless search for new information about her clan. She’d read about a jutsu the Uchiha had passed down from generation to generation, it wasn’t jutsu really, but a rite of passage. To even wear the Uchiha crest one had to learn it. Since her father was gone there was only one person in the village who could teach it to her. Her uncle. Who was not really her uncle. Her uncle who was not really her uncle, whom her mother insisted she stay far away from, but this was a tradition wasn’t it? Without learning it it honestly seemed inappropriate she wore the Uchiha crest. Her mother was one thing, as she married in and had no natural affinity to fire. Well. Actually Sarada wasn’t sure if her parents were married, but it must be okay or her father would have said something. Still, for her, someone who was an Uchiha by blood and had a fire affinity, well to Sarada it seemed improper.

So Sarada was taking the train, clutching a rare book she probably wasn’t supposed to take from the library, traveling to see a man she definitely was not supposed to see. A situation she definitely didn’t like, but, seemed necessary. For all the trouble she was going to, she wasn’t going to take no for an answer. Her uncle wasn’t a particularly easy person to deal with, but she was certain she could get that much out of him. After all, it was a storied tradition.

 

_______________________

“No.” 

“What do you mean no?!” Sarada shouted, exasperated. 

She’d found her uncle not in his apartment, as he was supposed to be but  
on the roof of the building, sunning himself on a lounge chair surrounded by snacks. On the side of the chair their also seemed to be five or six fruity looking cocktails lined up.

“Oh I see. You’re SO busy you can’t teach me Katon? House arrest VERY eventful today?” She muttered irritably, shoving the book in his face. “Help me! It’s your duty as my elder!”

“Jeez. You make a better door then a window, you know that? Get out of my light.” Obito muttered, roughly shoving the book away. 

Sarada pulled the book back, cradling it and smoothing it’s newly crumpled pages methodically before slamming it back onto the lounge. “I’m not leaving till you help me.” She muttered, crossing her arms and making sure to block his view.

“Aren’t you like, three?” He yawned. “It’s too dangerous. Come back when you’re a ninja.”

“I’m 10 actually, and I know for a fact the children learned it before they were shinobi.” She leaned over, pointing to the chapter about Katon. 

He shifted slightly, lowering his sunglasses to skim the paragraph she was pointing at. 

“God. You’re a horrible little nerd huh? Rude and dorky. Don’t know if you’re more like Sasuke or Itachi. Maybe some kind of horrible mix.” Obito muttered. He laid back down, rolling to his side and pointedly ignoring her.

Sarada tensed at being casually compared to the madman who slaughtered the clan. “I’m not like that man. I’d never hurt people like that.” She murmured, sitting on the edge the lounge. “and I’m not crazy like him.” 

“Which one are we talking about? Your dad or your uncle?” He laughed at his joke, but their was no humor behind it. Sarada stared at him. She adjusted her glasses, before quietly continuing to speak. 

 

“You weren’t in the village anymore when he did that right?” She pulled at the frayed strands on the lounge. “That must’ve been hard. When you found out.”

Obito didn’t respond. Or move. Sarada wondered if he fell asleep, which was not uncommon for her uncle to do. However, as she was preparing to lean over and shake him awake he responded. “They really don’t tell you anything huh?”

“No.” She muttered, unceremoniously pulling another piece of blue string from the shabby chair. “I try to learn everything about the clan I can, but no one tells me anything. Why do you think I even hang out with someone like you. At least sometimes you tell me the truth.” 

He snorted. “Charming. Keep insulting me, Sarada, that’s how to get what you want. Aren’t little girls supposed to be sweet and kind?”

“No. That’s sexist.” 

“Well when I was a kid little girls were sweet and charming, not horrible little monsters like you.” He coughed, scratching the back of his head as he pulled long-forgotten memories. “Actually...maybe Anko was like you.”

“Anko’s one of my favorite academy teachers actually.”

He hummed disinterestedly at this information, shifting onto his stomach. “It was a good visit Sarada. Don’t tell the pink thing. Now go away. I’m sleeping.”

“You’re such a jerk!” She hissed, picking up her book. “I never ask YOU for anything, I help you clean your gross apartment, I get you groceries when I can, I keep you company even though no one is really supposed to, and the one time I need you you don’t help me!” She made sure she kicked every single one of his drinks before jumping off the side of the roof. “I’m going to ask someone else! Someone better then you!” 

“Who the hell are you gonna ask?” He shouted after her. “Gonna write a letter to daddy?” 

“No! Someone with honor, unlike you! I’m gonna talk to Lord Sixth. He had the sharingan, I bet he knows Katon!

She hadn’t taken a step towards the Hokage office before she ended up slamming into Obito. He grabbed her arm and pulled her in the opposite direction.

“What’re you doing?!” She said, attempting to twist out of his grip. For someone who seemed to spend all hours of the day napping and eating he was surprisingly strong, and quick too. She knew she shouldn’t be particularly surprised, she’d read about him and the war, but it always seemed like there was such a stark disconnect between “Sad Middle-aged Man trying to roll cheese puff on his stomach into his mouth without using his hands” and “Extremely Powerful Madman bent on putting everyone in a dreamworld.”, but as she fruitlessly pulled she could see it. His hand might as well have been a manacle, she knew she wasn’t getting free. 

“Stop squirming. You’re attracting attention, and I don’t need to have a fist fight with another sheeple civilian because I killed his auntie during the war or something.”

“Where are we going? Let go of me!”

He didn’t respond, instead he threw the screaming girl over his shoulder, flashing a street vendor watching them a lopsided smile. “She’s my kid man! You know how kids are! Always screaming and crying and just being generally horrible....” 

This seemed to resonate with the elderly vendor, who was now nodding passionately. 

“That blonde boy came through here! He destroyed my entire stand!” 

“God. Kids huh? Horrible. Repulsive.” He shook Sarada as if to prove a point. 

“Put me down! You’re embarrassing me!”

“Your stupid friend destroyed this nice man’s banana stand...his livelihood was destroyed Sarada.....Destroyed.”

Sarada willed herself to calm down, lowering her voice to a near whisper.

“If you don’t put me down. I will scream that you’re kidnapping me.” He blinked, mischief swimming behind his eyes, and grinning wide. “Is that a threat?”

He smiled wider. It always seemed a bit grotesque when he smiled to Sarada, the scarred side of his face not moving near as much, making it look fake and painful. 

“Well...I think that’s kind of rude but-

They were suddenly on a building, away from the crowds as he hopped rooftop to rooftop. Sarada knew they’d teleported, but she hadn’t even seen him sign. It made her awed and nervous at the same time, for someone to be so skilled. 

“-that’s fine. Go ahead and scream as much as you want,” He said nonchalantly. “You think this my first kidnapping?”

“Why won’t you let me know what’s going on?” She kneed him hard in the chest, unable to do any jutsu in such a position, plus she was starting to worry her mother had been right and today was the day her uncle had just snapped. Obito cursed, practically throwing her onto the ground and doubling over to breathe.

“Drama queen.” She muttered, getting up and dusting herself off.

“I’m trying to do something nice for you sweetheart, and you’re trying to kill me?!” He inhaled deeply, glaring at her for a few moments before looking down. 

To Sarada’s shock her book seemingly appeared from nothing, the air around it rotating. He opened it, quickly flipping to the page she showed him earlier. “It says right here an Uchiha has to teach an Uchiha how to do it, so if you’re gonna pretend to care about fake unimportant traditions of a dead clan to try to fill the void left by a lack of identity because your father is emotionally disturbed and absent, and your mother is too afraid to tell you anything out of fear she’ll lose him.....well you might as well do it right. With me.”

He scratched his neck. “Also Kakashi is talentless. And ugly. Always has been. Don’t know how that guy got to be Hokage.” 

Sarada said nothing, her face burning at the callous description of her family, but it was probably the most truthful she’d ever heard, and coming from Obito...ugh. Instead of arguing or getting in her feelings Sarada just straightened her shoulders and started shoving him forwards, towards the ruins of where the Uchiha clan was. 

As she pulled and he complained bitterly they’d been getting there faster when he’d been leading a man’s face appeared on a large tree beside the roof of the building they were currently on. Obito seemed unimpressed, seemingly used to such intrusions, and simply cocked an eyebrow to the man, Sarada however, was not, and couldn’t force a shrill scream down. She immediately hopped into a defensive position, but neither men seemed to be paying any attention to her.

“You’re violating the parameters of your house arrest again Obito.” The man seemed to mirror the criminal’s movement, hand’s on his hips and eyebrow cocked.

“Oh my god. I’m trying to spend some quality time with my sweet little niece Yamato. Don’t you have any respect?”

“For you? No.” 

Sarada was intrigued, she’d definitely met the man once or twice, he’d visited her mother, but meeting someone in an Anbu uniform posed to go for a weapon was different then seeing them laughing with your mother over tea. 

“Y-Yamato right?” She murmured, relaxing a bit.

The man seemed utterly delighted she’d remembered his name. He pushed past Obito with purpose, earning a scoff from the taller man before stepping over to scoop her into a hug. 

“Sarada! How are you? You and your mother doing well I hope?”

She nodded.

“Now I know Sakura doesn’t want you hanging around this.....this...ne’er-do-well. You need to come with me.” He turned to address the dark haired man, immediately hardening his tone. “And YOU need to go home, on Lord Sixes orders.”

Obito shrugged. “Fine. You’re rescuing me, not her. Sarada’s the one who insisted I break house arrest. Little delinquent that one is.”

“She would never! Sakura says she’s incredibly well-behaved, unlike Sai’s son, who’s so rude! -And don’t even get me started on Naruto’s son...”

Obito rolled his eyes. “All kids are little monsters. Except for me. I was an angel.” He nodded to himself. 

Sarada squirmed in the brown haired man’s arms till he released her. “I can’t go with you! I need Obito to come with me!”

Yamato crossed his arms, looking down at the girl. “And why Sarada, do you need an internationally wanted war criminal only kept alive and out of actual prison with Lord Sixth’s pardon to go with you, right now at this moment?” His imprisonment is part of his atonement.”

“Everyday I’m not with her is atonement...” He murmured wistfully, suddenly laying down on the roof and staring at the sky.

Yamato pointed to the man now laying on the roof with his eyes closed. “He’s also very unstable.”

“I’m not unstable. I’m misunderstood.” He propped himself up to look up at Yamato, lowering his voice to something Sarada assumed was meant to sound seductive. “-And so lonely...” 

“You’re disgusting.”

 

“Oh come on, I know you swing that way— I mean the way you talk about Lord Sixthhh~” Obito badly mimicked the man’s voice, raising his own to a sing-song. Yamato rolled his eyes, pointedly ignoring the man.

Obito continued insistently, now gesturing to himself. “What, I’m too good for you, Mr. Head of State Sanctioned murder? Sooo sorry my murder was free-lance....so SORRY I was self-employed and building my own empire.....SORRY I was a free thinker...”

Yamato seemed to no longer be listening to the other man’s ramblings, seemingly used to them, and instead reached for Sarada, but she stepped away, backing up and trying to explain exactly why she needed to stay with Obito as she avoided his grasp. 

“I learned about a jutsu the Uchiha have to learn to be part of the Uchiha clan- from a book about the clan- So-“ She backflipped away from block of wood attempting to grip her. “-I need to go with Uncle because Obito is the only other Uchiha in the village and I need to learn it! -How else can I wear this crest on my back with pride if I don’t learn the jutsu little kids had to learn?! -I can’t call myself a Uchiha until I learn this!” She inhaled after the speedy explanation and whirlwind of dodges, gasping. To her surprise he didn’t grab her. She stared up at Yamato with desperation, pleading as soon as she regained her breath. 

“Please? Please let him come with me!”

Yamato bit his lip at the girl staring up at him with puppy dog eyes. He forced his voice into a gruff tone.

“Hmpfh. Fine, but I have to come as your escort though.” He turned to the man still talking to the air beside them. “And YOU will be on you BEST behavior.” 

Obito popped up with inhuman speed, slinging his arm around the the other man. “Bonding with my little parole officer and my littler niece, now this is gonna be fun!” 

“Don’t touch me.”

Sarada was already quite a ways ahead of them, their voices fading into the background. She couldn’t stop a grin from growing on her face. She was going to learn Katon.

___________________________

When they arrived at the ruins of the Uchiha clan compound, a large wall was in the way, covered in graffiti, and a large red “keep out sign”. 

Obito giddily pointed at a graffiti that said “Beware! Haunted! Woe to All Who Enter!”

“I love that.” 

Sarada waved her hand irritably as she perched herself on the top of the fence. “It’s annoying! Everyone thinks the compound is haunted at my school, kids dare each other to go in, they think Itachi’s ghost is gonna get them. Like. It’s so stupid and inconsiderate, do you know how hard it is for me to listen to that kind of nonsense?”

Obito oohed, placing his hands on the wall and staring longingly at the tag. “HE gets to be an urban legend? That nerd would never appreciate it. And here I am, with no clout stuck being guarded by Pinocchio.”

“Shut up. We’re here to train Sarada. Then you get back to your apartment, absolutely no dawdling.” 

Obito sighed, patting the tag once more before phasing through the wall.

 

Sarada hopped down. Even though she never lived here, looking at it made her feel terrible, and she rarely trained here. The buildings were rotting and also covered in spray and garbage. A popular place for teenagers to go, civilian teenagers especially, it was covered in discarded bottles and other litter as well. Technically this was her property, but since her father did nothing with it and he was never in the village it simply sat there and rotted away, completely abandoned. It made her sad thinking about all the people that lived here once that now seemed forgotten just a generation later, except in the minds of bored kids looking for scares and excitement. And hers. Deep down, she was always thinking of them, even if she knew very little. She remembered seeing a picture of her grandfather in the book, who had been clanhead during the massacre. His unsmiling face looking up at her with unseeing eyes. The man who did it too. Her dad’s brother. Sarada had felt a chill run down her spine when she looked at his wanted photo. Itachi had looked not much older then her. Sarada wondered what they had been like, before it all happened. She looked at Obito, who was scanning the premises with hands in his pockets. 

For once he had nothing to say.

Yamato appeared beside them, an unreadable expression on his face for a moment. It passed quickly, and he turned to Sarada. “So. Where are these training grounds?”

Jolted from her thoughts Sarada shook her head, shaking the sadness and longing from her mind before gripping their hands and pulling them along. “It’s this way. Come on!” 

_______________________________

The lake glistened as they stood by a rotting dock. Yamato stepped back, watching with his arms crossed as Sarada raced to the waterline. Obito slowly followed. Sarada recognized the place from pictures in the book, and her heart skipped a beat, it was really happening! She was really here! She turned around, excitedly gesturing for Obito to hurry. He sighed, meandering over at his own pace much to her frustration.

When he finally arrived he stood next to her, staring at the water. “It’s amazing out here.” She said, looking out at the lake with bright eyes.

“It’s alright.” Obito replied.

“Did your parents teach you here?” Sarada said, looking up at Obito, who had been relatively quiet since they’d arrived on the compound.

“No.” He replied shortly. He cleared his throat and turned towards the water. “Watch me.” 

He signed so quickly Sarada couldn’t keep up, and she felt her face get hot in shame. 

“Wai-“ 

The fireball that burst over the lake was gigantic, encompassing the entirety of it, causing the water to bubble from the heat. The grass around the lake was singed by the time the flame petered out.

Her eyes widened, awe in her voice as she squeezed his arm. “That’s amazing Uncle!” Obito shrugged. “Now you.”

She searched her mind for even one of the hand signs, but it had been done so fast it was a complete blur. She scuffed the heel of her sandal into the dirt and looked down, embarrassed.

“I didn’t see.”

He looked down at her, incredulous. “Why the hell didn’t you activate the sharingan?” 

Her blush deepened, unable to meet his gaze. She remembered reading in the book, an Uchiha usually activated their sharingan from around 7 to 10. She was 10 now, and it had not manifested. “If it ever does at all.” She thought worriedly. Since her mother was not an Uchiha, there was no guarantee it would ever manifest, and Sarada knew she’d be a splendid ninja with or without it...but....

“I don’t have it”

Obito seemed strangely pleased by this. “That’s fine. You don’t need it to learn, but it’ll probably take longer.” He made out the hand-signs slowly. “I didn’t have it when I learned the fireball jutsu either.” She nodded, half listening, committing the signs to memory.

“Ram....monkey....boar...horse...tiger.”

Immediately she tried. Nothing. Not even the tingle that something was going on. She signed again. Nothing. She felt herself getting redder and redder. Obito chuckled.

“Don’t you laugh at me! I can’t focus.”

She tried again, and again there was nothing. 

“Oh, good try sport!” Obito said mockingly, clapping.

“STOP IT!” She said, trying to shove him backwards. It became more infuriating when he didn’t budge, and instead easily pushed her away.

“You said to stop laughing, I’m not laughing.”

“Obito...” Yamato was glaring at him, a warning in his tone. Obito shrugged.

“How’s she gonna learn without a little adversity? Isn’t that right Sarada?” He ruffled her hair.

“Ugh!” She shoved his hands away and cursed, kicking one of the wooden poles holding up the rotting structure in frustration. Immediately, it all went crashing into the water. 

Obito was laughing hysterically at this point. He slapped a hand on her shoulder. “Hey. I’m kidding okay? Don’t feel bad if you can’t get it today, it’d be pretty unusual if you did” He squeezed her shoulders, before pulling back, and lazily walking towards Yamato, his hands in his pockets again. Yamato seemed less then pleased he was coming over to his tree.

“Well I will get it today!” She said stubbornly. Obito shrugged, giving her a thumbs up without turning around. 

“You go Sarada!” Yamato yelled. 

She kept trying, even as she signed a burning sensation bubbled up in the back of her throat, and died there. Hundreds of times. It stung, and her throat felt raw, but how could she expect to be Hokage if she couldn’t master such a basic jutsu? How could she face herself if she couldn’t even do the most basic jutsu the clan had done?

She continued, lips and throat burning but determined to succeed. “As many times as it takes. I have to prove myself.” She thought stubbornly.

___________________________

 

After a few long, grueling hours of attempts she turned around, running giddily over to the two men. 

“Did you see??? Did you?”

Yamato nodded, applauding her. “You’re really amazing Sarada!” 

She turned expectantly towards her uncle, who had been turned away from the lake and had been looking towards the compound, a far away look in his eyes. 

“Hmmm?”

She grimaced. “You weren’t watching.” 

Obito shook his head. “I mean. It took weeks for me to learn. Months to master. I really wasn’t expecting to be this good of a teacher.”

Yamato snorted. “You’re not, she’s naturally talented.” 

Sarada flexed her jaw, gingerly touching the skin around her lips that had been rubbed raw.

“I’ll do it again, so you can see.” 

“I saw it Sarada, it’s fine, we need to rub some medicine on those burns.” Yamato said, stepping towards her.

“No! No.” She insisted. “Uncle has to see it.” 

Yamato emitted the sigh of a long suffering man, closing his eyes and rubbing his temples “They’re all the same...”

She ran back over to the lake, waiting till he was beside her. Slowly he walked towards her, and tilted his head. She signed and a fireball burst forth, nowhere near as big as his, but still pretty substantial, about half his size. She looked up at him anxiously. 

“Was it okay?”

He coughed, and scratched the back of his head. “Yeah. I mean. That was okay.....” He said nonchalantly.

She nodded, her whole body seeming to relax at his approval.

“It was good. That was good.” He added, seemingly deep in thought. 

It passed quickly. He raised his voice in mock authority. “You have the right to wear the Uchiha crest.” 

She didn’t have any sarcastic retort to throw at him, instead throwing her arms around him and hugging him tightly. 

“Thank you Uncle.” Sarada buried her head in his chest, to hide the tears threatening to leak out. 

He chuckled nervously, gently prying her away, “Alright alright, geez.” 

He looked back towards the compound and his smile faded. “Let’s get out of here.” He flitted his eyes towards Yamato, lowering his voice to a mock-terrified whisper “Before he- he gets us-“ 

Yamato roughly shoved him, seeming not to be amused in the slightest by that display. “That’s in incredibly poor taste. Now we need to get back, Stop your nonsense.” 

No one protested, and despite Obito’s jokes the place did seem cold, and even more so- sad. When Sarada jumped over the wall it was as if a weight was lifted from her and a queasiness in her stomach disappeared. The men too, seemed to be in better moods. Obito seemed less distant, and Yamato less irritable.

Yamato huffed as Obito calmly starting walking towards the Main Street. He grabbed the other man’s arm.

“Oh? Is it THAT part of the date Mr. Officer? You didn’t even take me to dinner!”

Yamato ignored the comment, a look of exhaustion on his face.

“You need to change so you don’t attract attention. Last thing we need is you putting another civilian in the hospital.”

“At least I didn’t kill him!” Obito sulked. “You know it’s very hard for me. Very hard! I don’t know my own strength.” He whined, phasing out of Yamato’s grip.

“God knows why Lord Sixth pardoned you.” Yamato grumbled.

Obito sighed, visibly deflating. “I don’t know buddy. I really don’t know. A death sentence would’ve been real nice.” He looked up at the sky again, frowning. He sighed louder, and more dramatically before pulling a simple black spiral mask out of nothing and putting it on. 

Sarada was confused. “Why not just use a transformation jutsu?”

“I like masks.”

“But logically that must be a massive waste o-“

He cut her off. “I like masks, masks are cool. That’s enough of a reason. Besides, they’re inconspicuous.” 

“Huh?” 

Yamato shrugged, looking at her as if to say “See? He’s nuts.”

________________________

Contrary to what Obito had declared, more people seemed to glance at the trio now that he was donning a mask, but no one seemed to know who he was.

“See?” Obito leaned into Sarada’s ear as they walked through the crowded streets. “People are idiots, especially Konoha people. The biggest idiots.”

She punched his arm. Hard. “Don’t you dare say that!” 

“What the fuck?” He hissed angrily. “Why the fuck not?”

“Stop swearing so much! She’s a little girl!” Yamato said in a loud whisper. People now seemed to be stopping and staring at the strange group of- Man in Anbu uniform, man in mask, and little girl.

“Because I’m gonna be Hokage! And the whole village is gonna be my family!” Sarada shouted at him. Obito said nothing in return. The people around them pointedly went back to their business. Sarada felt her face burning but she nodded sharply, as if to reassure herself. “I will be.”

He grunted an acknowledgment, and they all walked on in silence until they got to the front of his home. At that Yamato gave Obito a serious “Behave or else.”, before giving Sarada a hug and some message to give to her mother about getting her the ointment she needed for her burns. He hugged her once more, tightly squeezing the girl before quickly flitting out of their space.

“He’s really sweet.” Sarada said quietly, which was the truth. He was a kind man, if not a little strange.

“He’s awful actually, and he’s always nearby. Boring guy.” Obito cupped his hands and shouted towards the roof “If Bakashi was really your friend, he’d let you take the day off!” There was no reply. 

He turned back to Sarada, who was pulling on his sleeve. “Mom will be home soon, so I’m gonna go.”

He nodded, before tilting his head and speaking. “Being Hokage, that’s a big dream.” 

Sarada mirrored his movements, nodding back at him. “I know.” She said quietly.

“I wanted that too, but if you end up wanting it, even when you know the truth, you’ll do it. No matter what you choose or how you feel, I know you’re going to be a great ninja.”

She looked down at the strangely worded praise, scuffing her shoe against the pavement, unsure how to reply.

He lowered his voice. “You don’t need anyone’s approval. Not mine, not the village’s, not your dad’s, not the hokage’s and not some old book, okay? Especially not the villages...or Kakashi’s....” he emphasized the last name, face scrunching with disgust.

She nodded slowly. “I know. I respect Lord Sixth, you, and papa...but I don’t wanna be like you.”

“I wanna be like Uncle Naruto. Momma says he’ll be Hokage soon, it’s only a matter of months.”

Obito nodded at this, an unreadable expression on his face. 

“Naruto is a special guy huh?” He muttered, nodding again, mostly to himself. “If theirs any man you should follow, he’s the one.” He smiled at her, and it seemed actually genuine. “I’ll cheer you on.” 

He looked up at the sky again, squinting. A few moments passed in silence.

“Uncle?”

He cleared his throat and stepped forward, putting his hand on her shoulder. “Actually, I’m gonna make sure you get there. It’ll be part of my atonement okay? We’re gonna make sure you become Hokage.” She beamed, throwing herself into another hug. 

“So tomorrow we’ll train too?”

He scratched the back of his head. “Tomorrow was a pretty full schedule of self-loathing in the dark and seeing how many cups of instant ramen I could eat without throwing up, but yeah, I can pencil you in.”

Sarada was practically jumping up and down at this point. “So that means you’re my sensei!”

“Ugh can this be a no labels thing? I feel like I’m not emotionally matured enough to be a sensei...”

She giggled. “Aren’t you like. Fifty? I mean you’re olddd~” She drew out the last word. He grimaced. 

“There’s that Uchiha clan charm! Alright. Whatever. I’ll be your sensei until you graduate the academy and they give you someone much more qualified, as long as you mom doesn’t find out we should be good.” 

He turned to shout at the roof again, “And I know nobody around here would EVER want to crush a little girl’s dreams!” 

He handed the girl her forgotten book in the excitement of the day.

“Oh! Thank you.” 

“Alright. I’ll see you tomorrow kiddo.”

Sarada nodded seriously. “I’ll be here before the sun comes up, so we can get as much training in as possible.”

“—Well wait a second now—“

“I’ll be here at around 4:30! AM!!!” Sarada bolted before he could protest, waving at the man. “Bye Uncle!!!”

“Great.” He muttered to himself. He shifted slowly, massaging his shoulder as he slunk towards his house. Anyone looking at the hunched over man would assume he was in a bad mood, but in truth, Obito was smiling.

Sarada was smiling too, as she boarded the train, clutching her book tight her chest. She’d achieved her goal, and was one step closer to becoming Hokage. Sarada wasn’t smiling because of that though, she was smiling because she felt like she belonged, that someone really understood her and was paying attention. Even if it was the most annoying guy she knew, they had a connection. Being two of the last three Uchiha was something that was special, lonely, and that was undeniable. She turned the book over in her hands. Running her thin fingers across the binding. She’d return it tomorrow. She wasn’t sure she needed it anymore.


End file.
